Injured cheerleaders moving to Denver for treatment

Teens will be treated at same facility as Gabby Giffords

Two La Cueva cheerleaders are out of their comas following a devastating car accident.

Injured cheerleaders moving to Denver for treatment

Teens will be treated at same facility as Gabby Giffords

Share

Shares

Copy Link

{copyShortcut} to copy
Link copied!

Updated: 10:44 AM MDT Aug 16, 2012

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —

Two La Cueva cheerleaders involved in a rollover crash are being transferred to a Denver hospital after recently coming out of comas.

Jessica Sanchez and her best friend, Lilly Pickard, should have started their junior year at La Cueva High School on Monday, but they were seriously injured in a recent car crash near Paseo Del Norte and Lowell Avenue. Both teens were not wearing a seat belts, and both were ejected when the driver lost control.

Related Content

The girls both suffered brain injuries and are being flown this week to the same state-of-the-art facility that treated former Rep. Gabby Giffords after she was shot.

"She and Lily are inseparable, the best of friends," said family friend Amy Deatherage.

Sanchez is being cared for at University Hospital, and Pickard is at Carrie Tingley Hospital.

Both girls fell into comas but are now awake, though unable to fully communicate. But friends and family know that it's progress.

"It was a rough road for them to be asleep for about three weeks and us not knowing," Deatherage said. "It was kind of hard to watch. It was encouraging to see them open their eyes and have Jessica look at me when I'm speaking to her."

Doctors said the road to recovery will be long and slow. Word came Wednesday that they were being flown to Craig Hospital in Denver, a facility with a well-known reputation for treating brain injuries.

"I wish we knew more," Deatherage said. "They both had severe brain injuries, so you just don't know what the rehab is going to be like.

"Both girls are strong, healthy and athletic, and we hope that's going to help them through in their recovery."

A website has been launched to keep the community informed about the girls' progress and to help raise funds to pay the medical expenses. A representative of the families said they got a $2,000 donation on Wednesday.